Pope Francis has called on the European Parliament to "keep democracy alive" for the people of Europe, in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg .
In the first visit by a Pope to the Parliament in more than twenty-five years, Pope Francis said that the economic crisis had had tragic consequences for society, with the result that “the great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions.”
"As the European Union has expanded, there has been growing mistrust on the part of citizens towards institutions considered to be aloof, engaged in laying down rules perceived as insensitive to individual peoples, if not downright harmful," the Pontiff said.
Stressing the need to put “the dignity of the person” at the heart of the European Union, he said that it was vital to develop a culture of human rights which “links the individual ... to that of the common good, of the all of us made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society.”
“To our dismay we see technical and economic questions dominating political debate, to the detriment of genuine concern for human beings,” he said.
Unemployment, labour rights and immigration featured in a speech that was underpinned by a strong social dimension. He said that, while the time had come to promote policies which create employment, “above all there is a need to restore dignity to labour by ensuring proper working conditions.”
The Pontiff also called for the European Union to adopt “a united response” to migration.
“We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery. The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance. The absence of mutual support within the European Union runs the risk of encouraging particularistic solutions to the problem, solutions which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing social tensions. “
Europe will be able to confront the problems associated with immigration “only if it is capable of clearly asserting its own cultural identity and enacting adequate legislation to protect the rights of European citizens and to ensure the acceptance of immigrants,” the Pope said.
Noting that people “risk being reduced to mere cogs in a machine that treats them as items of consumption to be exploited”, he said the result is the human life is discarded when it no longer proves useful for that machine, as in the case of the “terminally ill, the elderly who are abandoned and uncared for, and children who are killed in the womb.”
Addressing the issue of rising extremism, Pope Francis said that a Europe which is “capable of appreciating its religious roots” will be “all the more immune” to the extremism that is spreading throughout the world “not least as a result of the great vacuum of ideals which we are currently witnessing in the West.”
“The motto of the European Union is ‘United in Diversity’. Unity, however, does not mean uniformity of political,economic and cultural life, or ways of thinking.”
Noting that “a two-thousand-year-old history links Europe and Christianity,” he said that the history of Europe was still being written. “The time has come to work together in building a Europe which revolves not around the economy, but around the sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values.”
The Pontiff also touched on the issue of ecology and respect for nature. Observing that the European Union has “always been at the vanguard of ecology,” he said that people were the “stewards not masters” of the earth, adding that the earth “needs constant concern and attention.” “It is intolerable that millions of people around the world are dying of hunger while tons of food are discarded each day from our tables. “
Pope Francis, who will also visit the Council of Europe during his four-hour visit to Strasbourg, was greeted by Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament on arrival at the European Parliament.
The last Papal visit to the European Parliament was in 1988 when Pope John Paul II addressed the chamber, prompting an intervention by the Reverend Ian Paisley, who denounced the Pope as the anti-Christ, leading to his expulsion from the Chamber.
